Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. The Living God nudged me awake in the wee hours of this new day and I took the fourth watch of prayer right away. When the Spirit of God comes calling, sleep is of no importance at all, and when He comes calling it’s for a Big Purpose. So I settled in before the Throne of a Mighty God and I went to work on behalf of so many of my brothers and sisters. It’s an honor to pray on behalf of another, but it’s also “work” when you understand how the spiritual war is fought. I like to imagine that the enemy hates to see me coming because I pray with BELIEF and I pray with BOLDNESS. I’m as bold as a lion and as gentle as a lamb… I’m a Warrior for the Living God. Isn’t that the way you see your Role in the battle too?

Lots of things come into play to be a Warrior in the spiritual battle- like Faith, Perseverance, Boldness, Courage, and Willingness. But I think the one thing that sets Warriors apart from the “average” person of Faith is Compassion. When Jesus was “moved with Compassion” He did some incredible things. He fed thousands of people who came to learn from Him because He was moved with Compassion. When He raised Lazarus from the dead He was moved with compassion for the family, and Jesus wept over their pain. When the centurion soldier asked Jesus to heal one of his men, Jesus was moved with compassion over the centurion’s faith and He healed the soldier from afar. It is Compassion that drove Jesus to share the Truth, and it was Compassion that compelled Him to action. Compassion is the center of why He hung on the cross for you and for me. Heartfelt compassion cannot be ignored, and it will propel us into action every single time. There’s a huge difference between feeling sorry for people and having Compassion for them. Feeling sorry invokes a little conversation and it might even inspire a prayer or two, but Compassion…that’s where BIG things happen…that’s where Action is born… and that’s what it takes to keep us before the Throne of a Mighty God fighting the spiritual war.

I wish there was a way to force people into being Compassionate, but that’s not humanly possible. Compassion is born out of Love…Love for the Living God and the kind of Love that leads us to genuinely “love your neighbor as yourself.” If I love you the way I love me it’s not possible for me not to feel Compassion and it’s impossible not to do whatever I can do to meet the need. When Compassion kicks in we feel the pain of another and the “one body” teaching makes perfect sense. With Christ-like Compassion we don’t need to have firsthand experience in the journey the suffering ones endure…we just need to “love your neighbor as yourself” and their pain becomes your pain faster than you can say “amen!” Compassion drives us into action as surely as it drove Jesus to feed the multitudes…but just as important, it drives us to our knees on their behalf too. Not just a whispered prayer or two like so many people do, but Compassionate, Passionate, Bold, Relentless prayers with the Belief that they’re being heard in the Heavens. The Bible says that our prayers are “like incense in Heaven” and sometimes I like to imagine how sweet my prayers are to the King of all Kings.

I prayed through the fourth watch on behalf of the suffering ones and I did the only kind of Battle that does serious damage to the plans of my enemy. I’m a Bold Warrior in the biggest spiritual battle I’ve ever known, but I’m Courageous and Willing and I know how the Story ends. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about how His Compassion for me drew me to Himself, and what my future would be had He not – and THAT overwhelms me with the kind of Love that fuels Compassion…the kind of Compassion that drives me to my knees for the fourth watch and calls me into Action to fill the needs every chance I get.

How about you?